


so you can finally breathe

by biblionerd07



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Demons, F/F, F/M, Feelings, Found Family, Gen, Getting Together, Hell Trauma, Pining, Self-Sacrifice, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:54:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21675580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biblionerd07/pseuds/biblionerd07
Summary: Lucifer comes back to Earth with bad news--Lilith is on her way. Maze isn't ready to let anyone at her humans without a fight.
Relationships: Chloe Decker & Mazikeen, Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Eve/Mazikeen (Lucifer TV), Linda Martin & Mazikeen (Lucifer TV), Mazikeen & Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV), Trixie Decker & Mazikeen
Comments: 39
Kudos: 228





	so you can finally breathe

Maze is cleaning viscera off her blades after their fight for Charlie when Lucifer pops in. Her eyes go to his wings first; she can’t help it. She still dreams, sometimes, about hacking them off, down in the sand at low tide so the water would wash away his blood when she was done, Lucifer stuffing his tie in his mouth so he wouldn’t cry out, the way his muscles clenched under her hands with each of her sawing motions. She hadn’t liked doing it, even then, even without all the feelings she’s accumulated during their time here. She’d sworn an oath to protect him, so mutilating him didn’t exactly sit right.

She looks up into his face and her breath catches. “You’re going back,” she says. It isn’t a question. She can see it in his eyes.

“I have to,” he tells her. She knows he’s right. They look at each other without speaking for a long beat.

“I can’t go with you,” Maze says. She didn’t know that was the truth until she said it, but she can hear Linda giving Charlie a bath upstairs, so human, so fragile. No doubt Amenadiel is standing watch, but still. Amenadiel can’t spend every waking moment watching them. They’ll have to take turns.

“I know,” he answers. “But…” He finally pulls his wings in. “You deserved to know.”

She thinks of sitting on Linda’s couch, unable to look at him as he realized she had feelings now. She thinks of her shock, her cold anger, the crushing in her chest when she thought he was going to leave her behind. She doesn’t feel that now. He’s here telling her, not because he needs her as backup but because he cares. Maze swallows hard.

“I’ll keep the humans safe,” she promises. His mouth is all pinched in a way that tells her he’s already said goodbye to Chloe.

“I know you will,” he says, voice choked. “That’s the only reason I can leave them.”

He just stands there for a minute, unsure. They’re not going to hug; they don’t do that, sex notwithstanding. Not that their sex ever involved much hugging.

“Do you have a plan?” She asks him.

Lucifer shrugs. “It won’t be much work once I get down there,” he points out. “They just need to remember who’s in charge. Most will still be loyal to me, especially when word gets out about what happened up here.”

She nods. Demons aren’t really built for self-rule, despite Dromos’ recent antics. Demons follow orders. Except Maze, but that’s after years on Earth. In Hell, they follow the pecking order, especially with Lucifer there to enforce it.

Lucifer heads up the stairs and Maze doesn’t follow. He’s going up there to say his goodbyes. She doesn’t even know how to react to her own, so she has no idea how she’d handle seeing Linda fall to pieces. And she will, Maze knows. Linda is so much more than just Lucifer’s therapist.

Maze goes back to cleaning her knives. Demon blood crusts faster than human blood. Cleaning it off her blades takes extra time. She’d almost forgotten. She tries not to listen to the sound of Linda trying to talk Lucifer out of going or Amenadiel promising to keep an eye on Chloe.

Lucifer comes back down the stairs looking worn down. He’s never been very good at goodbyes. He never had to be. He never had anyone to say goodbye _to_ before now.

“I won’t be able to tell Ms. Lopez where I’m going,” he says, sounding a little sad. Maze can understand missing Ella, even if she does pretend not to know her name. Lucifer, especially, loves having someone like that around. Someone who just enjoys him and doesn’t ask too many questions.

“Decker will come up with something to tell her,” Maze says. Lucifer’s face closes off at the mention of Chloe. He’d better close that open wound before he gets down to hell. Most of the demons will be on his side, sure, but some won’t, and that’s a neon sign for weakness.

“I suppose I should’ve told the detective’s offspring goodbye, too,” Lucifer muses, eyebrows pulling together. “But she’s with Daniel, so…” He shrugs and pushes a hand through his hair. “I have to go now.”

“Good luck,” Maze tells him, and she doesn’t even say it sarcastically. He nods at her and turns to leave. She doesn’t know why he’s walking out the front door instead of just flying off. Probably to be dramatic. “Wait,” Maze suddenly calls out, desperate for some reason. Her chest is tight. She holds out her best blade. Lucifer looks down at it and back up into her eyes, swallowing hard.

“You know I have my own,” he reminds her softly.

“This one’s better,” she says. She forged it herself, four thousand years ago after one of the older demons stole her first favorite blade off her.

Lucifer takes it without looking her in the eye. “Thank you, Mazikeen,” he whispers. Then he ditches the front door idea and just disappears. Maze sits back down heavily, stomach churning. She’s never been on Earth without Lucifer. Even after she set out on her own, took up bounty hunting, moved out, they still orbited one another. Spending eons with someone in Hell and then moving to an entirely different plane of existence with them makes it kind of hard to leave them behind.

Now she’s alone. There is no one left on Earth who fully understands Maze, who lived her history with her. She screws her eyes shut for a minute and just focuses on breathing. It’s a trick Linda taught her in hopes of controlling her anger. It doesn’t work for that, but it helps her feel like she’s not drowning.

“Maze,” Linda says tearfully, coming down the stairs. “Are you alright?”

Well. She may not have Lucifer anymore, and no one else lived through the same things she did, but she isn’t alone. She shifts her pile of knives over to make space for Linda, and Linda doesn’t hesitate before coming over. They sit together and grieve.

Maze goes to Chloe’s soon after but finds it empty. She rolls her eyes to herself, knowing where Chloe must be. Lux is still open, still full of people drinking and sweating and gyrating. Lucifer would be proud. No brush with demons or loss of its patron can hold a good club down.

The penthouse is mostly silent. Maze is glad she didn’t walk in to find Chloe crying, at least. Maze cares now, and she’s doing her best to deal with the feelings stuff, but crying would be too much to handle.

Chloe whirls around at the _ding_ of the elevator. Maze isn’t offended when her face falls slightly at the sight of Maze. “Hi,” Chloe says, all slumped and red-eyed. “He isn’t here.”

“I know,” Maze says. “I came to find you.”

Chloe all but crumples onto Lucifer’s bed. “What if I never see him again?”

Maze huffs a little laugh. “Decker, please,” she says. “You were finally ready to bone him all deviled up. He’s not leaving that behind permanently.”

Chloe manages a shaky little smile. “You really think he’ll come back?”

“He hates Hell,” Maze reminds her. “You’ve never seen him there, so you don’t know. But he _really_ hates it there. He’ll do what he has to and keep the demons in line. Doesn’t mean he can’t come home every once in a while for a little loving.”

That gets a breathy laugh from Chloe. “Home,” she echoes. “Hell isn’t home?”

Maze snorts. “Lucifer gave Mommy Dearest her own universe to avoid leaving here. This is definitely home.”

“He…what?” Chloe asks.

Maze pats her arm. “Story for another night,” she says. “I doubt you can handle it right now.”

Chloe laughs quietly. “You’re probably right.”

“You sleeping here?” Maze asks.

“Is that really pathetic of me?” Chloe asks. “Trixie’s with Dan and…well.”

Maze shrugs. “Whatever. Do what you gotta do.” She heads for the elevator again. Chloe’s fine, at least as much as she can be tonight. There’s nothing more Maze can do for her and she probably wants to be alone to cry in Lucifer’s bed anyway. It’s a different kind of crying than that bed usually sees.

“Wait, Maze,” Chloe calls out. “There’s a note here for you.”

“From who?” Maze asks.

“From Lucifer,” Chloe says, sounding a little confused at Maze’s question.

Maze scoffs. Of course he’d say goodbye in person and then leave a note, too. Drama queen. Maze takes the note from Chloe and rolls her eyes. “Sealed with wax? He’s such a pompous ass.” She rips the seal open and scans the note. “Oh, wow.” She looks up at Chloe. “I’m in charge of Lux while he’s gone.”

Chloe blinks. “That’s…a good thing?” Chloe probably can’t imagine anything worse. That would be hell to her, managing Lux and having to be there most nights.

Maze shrugs. “Lux is the closest Lucifer will get to having a baby,” she says. “He wants me to take care of it for him.”

“Oh,” Chloe says like she figured something out. “So he trusts you.” She’s looking at Maze like this is some kind of big deal. Maze gives her a look.

“Decker, I knew that a long time ago,” she says. “And he asked me to look after a lot more than just the club.”

Chloe blinks, and then she looks annoyed. “Did Lucifer ask you to _babysit_ me or something?”

Maze rolls her eyes again. They’re both drama queens. They deserve each other. “No,” she says, exaggerated patience dripping from her voice. “He was mostly asking me to make sure you don’t get snatched by demons or engaged to an immortal murderer or manipulated by an evil priest.”

Chloe winces and Maze has it in herself to feel a little bad. It’s a low blow to push on those bruises tonight. Kicking someone when they’re already down is usually fun, but not Chloe. She has such an ugly sad face and it twists something in Maze’s guts.

“Right,” Chloe says softly.

Maze sighs. “Decker, he wants you safe,” Maze tells her. “You know he’d blow up the world for you if he needed to, right? Don’t go crying into his pillow about him not trusting you or something.”

Chloe rolls her eyes a little, but her sad face has lessened. “Thanks, Maze.”

Maze takes off again. Over her shoulder, she calls, “You should probably change the sheets before you get in there.”

There’s a beat of silence. Just as the elevator doors are closing, she hears Chloe say, “No, but he hasn’t—” in a voice that means she’s definitely thinking about it. Maze cackles a little. Just because she’s mostly being nice doesn’t mean she can’t have a little fun.

Tribe night is a lot less wild now that Linda has an infant. Charlie’s five months old and teething’s a bitch for everyone involved, so Maze, Chloe, Linda, and Ella are gathered in Linda’s living room to watch a movie and eat popcorn and pretend Linda doesn’t fall asleep the second she sits down. Maze wanted to watch that birthing video again, but everyone else had strongly vetoed it. They’re watching one of those stupid movies where the man doesn’t deserve the woman but the woman chases after him anyway. Maze rolls her eyes and doesn’t let herself think about Eve.

The party livens up quite a bit when Lucifer blows into the room. Literally—he crashes through a wall. Ella shrieks the loudest, probably because Lucifer’s wings are out and she still didn’t know the truth. But his wings are bedraggled and the left one’s bent at a weird angle.

“Lucifer!” Chloe breathes.

“Maze,” he gasps. “She’s coming.”

“No, it’s okay, Maze is right here,” Linda soothes, rushing over to him. Her ability to jump to action after being woken up like that is admirable. But Maze pushes past her. He wasn’t asking _for_ her; he was talking _to_ her.

“Who’s coming?” Maze asks.

“I’m sorry; I couldn’t stop her,” he says, like he didn’t hear her. “I didn’t think they’d let her out. I…” He’s bleeding, either from whatever fight he was in or from coming through the wall with Chloe there.

“Who?” Maze asks, blood running cold. There’s only one person she can think of he didn’t think would get out that he’d need to warn Maze about.

He meets her eyes and confirms her worst fear. “Lilith.”

Maze’s breath catches. Linda looks over at her quickly and covers her hand with her mouth. “Oh, God,” she murmurs.

“Yes, He’ll be quite mad,” Lucifer says, dazed. “Where’s Amenadiel?” He raises his voice. “Brother! We need you.”

“He’s upstairs with Charlie,” Linda says. Then Lucifer’s eyes roll back in his head and he passes out.

“Lucifer!” Chloe screams, dropping to her knees beside him. Amenadiel comes running from upstairs, cradling Charlie protectively.

“What’s happening?” He asks. He stops short at the sight of his brother. “Luci? What happened?”

“Lilith escaped,” Maze tells him grimly. Amenadiel swallows hard. He meets her gaze, eyes blazing. If he were Lucifer, his eyes would be hellfire red.

“Did she do this to him?” He asks, voice dangerous.

“He didn’t say,” she says, but they both know it’s the most likely scenario.

“Lilith…?” Ella echoes. “I mean she’s not actually in the Bible but I’ve heard of her. I—I mean we’re talking Biblical stuff here, right? Because Lucifer’s…” She trails off, eyes wide as she stares down at Lucifer’s wings.

“Get the clueless human out of here,” Maze snaps. “We’ve got bigger problems to deal with.”

Chloe’s obviously not planning to move from her spot beside Lucifer with her hands on his face, and Maze and Amenadiel are better suited to waking up a celestial than anyone else, so Linda takes Charlie from Amenadiel.

“Ella, can you help me with Charlie?” She asks.

“Those wings are so…” Ella’s voice is all dreamy the way some humans get when they see angelic stuff. Maze rolls her eyes and shoves Ella toward Linda.

“Go,” she commands. “Linda. Baby.”

Ella blinks when she notices Charlie and then takes a giant breath, like she’s coming up from underwater. “Oh,” she says. “What? Okay.”

Linda leads her into the kitchen and Maze looks at Amenadiel. “You got some kind of angel-to-angel CPR or something?”

“No,” Amenadiel says, forehead creased with concern.

“Oh,” Chloe says. “Wait, it’s—this is my fault, isn’t it?” She scrambles back, falling on her ass in her haste to get away from him. “If I go, he’ll wake up, right?” She can’t take her eyes off him.

“We don’t know that, Decker,” Maze admits softly. “It wasn’t something on Earth that hurt him.”

Chloe blinks hard. “But I should go. I should let him heal. Shouldn’t I?” She’s practically begging one of them to tell her she doesn’t have to leave, but it would honestly probably help. Maze can see Amenadiel hesitating over telling her, so it’s up to Maze to be the bad guy. What else is new?

“Yeah,” Maze says. “You should go.”

“Okay,” Chloe says, tears in her eyes. “Will you tell him I…” She swallows hard and shakes her head. “Never mind.” She crawls back over him and kisses his forehead. She whispers in his ear and Maze and Amenadiel politely look at each other and pretend they can’t hear her telling him she loves him. Then she stands up and runs out the front door.

It takes a minute or two, but then Lucifer’s eyes flutter open. “Detective?” He asks.

“She left so you’d heal,” Maze says. “Pretty sure she’s running down the street crying right now.”

She kind of meant it as a joke, but his face goes all sad about it. “This vulnerability thing is really quite the headache,” he says.

“Can we get back to the part where Lilith escaped her corner of hell?” Maze says.

Lucifer pushes himself up to a sitting position, wincing and groaning. The gash on his forehead hasn’t closed up, so Maze is pretty sure it was from a demon blade. “The demons were…surprisingly resistant to me taking back my throne,” he says. “The battle down there has been harder than I anticipated.”

“Luci, your wings,” Amenadiel says, unable to stop looking at the wretched things.

“Small bit of trouble with some hellfire,” Lucifer says dismissively.

“Hellfire doesn’t break bones,” Maze points out.

“No, that was your lovely mother,” he admits. “I realized she was stirring them all up, telling them I’m an unjust ruler. It’s been a hard half century. How long’s it been here?”

“Five months,” Maze says. “Do you think she’s coming to Earth?”

“Oh, I know she is,” Lucifer says darkly. “That’s how she broke my wing. Trying to hitch a ride.”

“So she’s going to possess someone,” Amenadiel concludes.

“She will,” Lucifer agrees. “And she’ll bring more demons with her. This is why I left in the first place, exactly what I wanted to _stop_ from happening.” The blood from his forehead’s slowed to a trickle and he has more color in his cheeks. “Does anyone have a phone? You should get the detective back here. I’m fine now. That wall was stronger than I anticipated.”

“I reinforced it,” Maze tells him. “But how’s she going to help us fight demons?”

“She can help us strategize,” he says, all offended on Chloe’s behalf. “Besides, I never said we needed her back for that, did I?”

Maze rolls her eyes at the lovesick idiot, but she hands over her phone anyway. He makes a face at her. “Is she really still in here as _Lucifer’s Cop Chick_?”

Maze shrugs unrepentantly. “I have a system.”

Standing up is a bit of a production with his broken wing hanging there awkwardly, but he does it so he can move off to call Chloe in some semblance of privacy. Linda pokes her head out of the kitchen. “Oh, good, he’s up.”

He’s pacing a little while he talks to Chloe. She couldn’t have gotten too far in the little time it took before he called her.

Ella rushes out of the kitchen behind Linda. “Is he up and awake? Like talking? Because I have _questions_.”

“Yes, Ms. Lopez, I’m sure you do,” Lucifer says, coming back and handing Maze her phone back. “But I’m afraid they’re going to have to wait. Write them down if you think you’ll forget.”

“Uh, yeah, not gonna forget,” Ella says incredulously.

“We need to figure out what to do about Lilith,” Maze says. It’s taking everything she has to keep her voice level. Linda keeps shooting concerned little looks at her, but Linda has feelings superpowers. Maybe no one else can tell.

Except Lucifer knows she’s freaking out, too. He nods at her and says softly, “Mazikeen. I’m sorry. I tried—”

“I know,” she cuts him off. She can’t do this now, especially not with a bunch of other people in the room. _Maybe_ if they were alone she could handle it, but even then probably not. Luckily, Chloe comes bursting in the door then, and that’s a sufficient distraction.

“Are you okay?” Chloe asks. She reaches out a hand toward his wing but pulls back before actually touching it. “Lucifer, that looks broken. And what happened to…um, the feathers?” Maze gives her a little slightly-begrudging respect for only stumbling for a second on the weirdness of asking a dude you want to fuck where his feathers went. That’s definitely not normal for a human.

“It is broken,” he confirms. “But that will heal. The feathers will come back.”

“How soon?” Chloe asks. “Should I leave again?”

“No,” Lucifer says quickly, reaching out and grabbing her hand like she’s going to disappear.

“Why should you leave?” Ella asks.

“But Lucifer, what happened?” Linda asks.

Maze sticks two fingers in her mouth and lets a whistle crack through the overlapping chatter. Everyone freezes and stares at her. “We are looking at a possible world-ending demon infestation. Lilith is _pure evil_. We can’t just sit here on our asses and do nothing.”

“She knows Lilith?” Ella asks.

“Lilith is the mother of all demons,” Amenadiel supplies. He gives Maze an apologetic look. Like it’s some big secret she’s keeping.

“What does that mean?” Ella asks. “Why would Maze—” She breaks off with a little squeak. “Demon?”

“Literally or figuratively?” Chloe asks, a little quicker on the uptake since the celestial stuff isn’t a revelation to her. “Like you’re her descendant or—”

“Literally,” Maze says flatly. “She brought us all into Hell and then sent us on our way.”

“As you can imagine, she was not well suited to motherhood,” Lucifer murmurs, still holding tightly to Chloe’s hand.

Maze closes her eyes for a second, remembering being shoved out of the cave, remembering the ridiculing laughs of siblings who were thousands of years older than she was. Demons aren’t defenseless newborns like useless humans, but Maze wasn’t born with the knowledge of how to fend for herself. She spent hundreds of years nursing broken bones and open wounds before she fought her way to the top and was rewarded with a spot as Lucifer’s right hand.

Maze jumps, eyes flying open when something crashes into her. It’s Ella, squeezing Maze around the middle. “I’m so sorry, Maze,” she says. “No one should have a bad family.”

Maze glares her away. “This isn’t about me,” she says. “Lilith has always hated humanity.”

“She’s moved on from the damned to hating the living,” Lucifer says bitterly. “I tried to reason with her.”

Maze barks out a laugh. “Reason?”

Lucifer shrugs. “I told her she could have free reign over the worst of the damned souls. I even offered to give her more of Hell. But she wouldn’t listen.”

“She just wants to kill as many people as possible,” Maze says.

Lucifer tips his head. “One of my least favorites of her character flaws.”

“So what do we do?” Chloe asks, switching into her detective mode. “Is there a way to stop her from coming here? Why didn’t she ever come before?”

“She was locked into a corner of Hell,” Amenadiel says.

“A lovely gift from Father when Lilith wasn’t on board with being Adam’s obedient wife,” Lucifer adds.

Maze thinks of Eve with a pang. “Who let her out?”

“I can’t be sure,” Lucifer says. “But I think it was Ferez and—”

“Soleen,” Maze finishes, shaking her head. Soleen was her constant tormenter when she was younger. Soleen’s big, even for a demon, but she was never smart enough to do more than bully the younger demons unless Ferez was calling the shots. He used Soleen to do his dirty work as much as possible.

“On the bright side, Soleen won’t be in her own body,” Lucifer points out. “I didn’t fly them here, so they’ll have to resort to possession to get here.”

“Not much of a bright side if you ask me,” Chloe cuts in.

“Trust me, if you knew what Soleen’s real form looked like, you’d see it as a bright side,” Maze tells her. Chloe shudders a little, mostly involuntarily.

“This is so bananas,” Ella says. “I’m sitting here with two angels and a demon talking about human possession and _Lilith_ walking the Earth.”

“The important thing will be killing Lilith as soon as possible,” Maze says. “The rest of them aren’t brave enough to fight you without her egging them on.”

Linda gives her a look. “Maze, fighting your siblings is one thing, but your mother…?”

“Hardly a mother,” Lucifer says bitingly. He’s probably thinking of the time Lilith pushed Maze off a cliff. Luckily, she found a handhold before she hit the bottom and was able to climb her way back up to the top, but Lucifer’s touchy about things like that, especially when they involve falling.

“Sure,” Linda agrees. “But if I asked you to fight your father, I imagine it would be difficult.”

“Well, Linda, been there, done that, got the eternal damnation,” Lucifer points out impatiently. “My father also happens to be all-knowing and all-powerful, so you can imagine how difficult it is to mount an attack against Him. Lilith, on the other hand, is only very smart, very cunning, and the most skilled fighter in all of Hell. So, you know, slightly less difficult, but not by much.”

Linda looks abashed. “Sorry.”

Lucifer blows out a breath. “I didn’t mean to snap,” he says stiffly. “I am…” He swallows. Maze can see how wrecked he is. Not only from the broken wing that’s still hurting him, but the fight with Lilith and the demons must have really shaken him. Then there’s the whole issue of going back to Hell in the first place, the number one thing he avoided for so many years.

Chloe squeezes Lucifer’s hand and he nods a little. Linda puts her hand on his shoulder. “I know, Lucifer,” she says softly. “It’s alright.”

Part of Maze is jealous. It wasn’t easy for Lucifer to learn to take comfort from people, but he did learn. Maze herself is still struggling with the concept. She can _see_ Lucifer regaining his composure thanks to their ministrations. Maze thinks she might like that, the whole drawing strength from others thing. Maybe. She’s still on the step where she admits having feelings isn’t a weakness.

“Are you saying this is impossible?” Chloe asks worriedly.

“Of course not,” Lucifer says. “I’m just saying it’s going to be very difficult and I probably have even chances of ending up dead.”

“Lucifer,” Chloe scolds under her breath.

“I’m only trying to be realistic, darling,” Lucifer says, voice softening. “Wouldn’t want anyone signing up for something without all the facts.”

“There are others we could turn to for help,” Amenadiel says.

“You mean like Dan?” Chloe asks.

Lucifer snorts. “Yes, Daniel will surely be the tipping point in our celestial war.”

“Dan’s got more to him than you give him credit for,” Maze says. “For a human, anyway.”

“I meant our siblings,” Amenadiel explains. “It’s in everyone’s best interest to contain Lilith.”

“You really think any of them would be willing to come to Earth to save humans?” Lucifer asks skeptically.

Amenadiel shrugs. “Some of them. Azrael cares more for humanity than most. Remi won’t care about saving humans, but she loves a good fight, especially against Lilith. We might even be able to convince Raphael to help. You know he doesn’t like to see anyone hurt.”

“Michael would be the most help,” Lucifer says with a grimace. “Not that _he’ll_ come down to help.”

Amenadiel tips his head. “No, I don’t see that happening.”

“But—” Ella furrows her brow. “Isn’t Michael like…a protector?”

Lucifer snorts. “Of his own ego, maybe.”

“Lucifer and Michael have never gotten along,” Amenadiel says diplomatically.

“Oh, name me someone Michael _has_ gotten along with,” Lucifer sneers.

“Off track again,” Maze interrupts, annoyed. If they’re going to get petty about their siblings, they’ll never get back to planning a defense.

“What about _your_ siblings, Maze?” Chloe asks. “Any chance any of them will help us?”

Maze barks out a laugh. “Absolutely not.”

“Demons are a sort of herd animal,” Amenadiel says. “And Lilith is definitely the head.”

Linda frowns. “Maze isn’t an animal,” she says, giving Amenadiel a dirty look. Linda’s defense means more to Maze than she’d like to admit, even if she knows Amenadiel doesn’t really think of her as something unclean anymore. Not totally, anyway.

“No, Maze is special,” Lucifer says. “Always has been.”

Maze would like to pretend that doesn’t affect her, but it does. After all she and Lucifer have been through together, hearing things like that gets to her. She swallows hard. “Most of them have never been very far from Lilith’s corner of hell,” she explains. “So they’ve been listening to Lilith and following her orders for thousands of years. It’s not easy to leave that behind.”

“How did you do it?” Chloe asks.

Maze sighs. “Well, I kinda get pissed when people try to kill me over and over for thousands of years.”

“Your mom tried to kill you?” Ella asks. She’s starting to get that dazed look again, the glazed-over eyes that mean she’s thinking about what’s going to happen to her when she dies. Humans really can’t handle this shit.

“All the time,” Maze confirms. “And then I’m not supposed to hold a grudge because she gave birth to me? Yeah, right. But either way, it’s us against the other demons and Lilith.”

“So how do we find…demons?” Linda asks gamely.

“We can only possess newly-dead bodies of the damned,” Maze says. “Anyone who just died but gets back up and walks around again.”

“Wait a second,” Ella says, eyes narrowing. Her nerd brain is cutting through the celestial fog. “Like Holla Bae?”

“Yeah, he and Father Kinley and a whole bunch of other people,” Chloe says.

“That whole cult thing was…demons?” Ella asks. She’s going foggy again.

“Baby-kidnapping demons,” Linda says darkly. “That’s why Lucifer had to go back to Hell.”

“ _Hell_ ,” Ella echoes. “Okay, uh…”

“Do I need to slap her or something?” Maze asks. “Decker, you need to go check for body drops.”

“How well can they figure out where they’re going?” Chloe asks worriedly. “What if they don’t even end up in LA?”

“They were following me,” Lucifer says. “They’ll be here.”

Chloe rakes her eyes over him, assessing. “Do you want to come to the precinct with me?” She asks. “Actually, maybe you should stay here. I’ll go and you can feel better.”

“No,” he says, almost too loudly. “I’m going with you.” He looks over at Maze. “We need to keep all the humans covered.”

She gets what he’s not saying, even if no one else does. Lilith found out about his weak spot, about the people he cares about. Most notably Chloe, but all the humans gathered in this room. “Where’s Trix?” Maze asks, stomach dropping. If Lilith knows about Chloe, it won’t take long on Earth to find out about Trixie. If she doesn’t already know.

“With Dan,” Choe says. “At his place. Why?”

“I’m going,” Maze says. “Maybe Amenadiel should take Decker and you stay with Ellen and Linda and Charlie.”

“No,” Amenadiel and Lucifer say at the same time.

“Maze is right,” Chloe says. She shakes her head at Lucifer’s wounded look. “Lucifer, no. You know I want to stay with you. You’re my _partner_ , and I want to have your back. But me having your back is worse for you. I’m not letting you get hurt because our feelings got in the way.”

“But…” Lucifer sighs. There’s no denying the truth in Chloe’s words. If Lucifer’s going to fight a horde of demons and Lilith herself, his invulnerability is pretty important. Not to mention he needs some more time away from Chloe to heal.

“Wait, but your devil face and wings and everything go with your own feelings, right?” Chloe suddenly sounds excited. “So couldn’t the vulnerability thing be that way, too? Can’t you just stop feeling it?”

Lucifer makes a face. “Yes, Detective, if there’s one thing I have absolute mastery over, it’s my feelings. Haven’t we seen that again and again?”

Chloe rubs her face. “Okay. Well. For now, we split up. But maybe we can work on that in the future.”

_In the future_. Lucifer doesn’t contradict her, but his eyes cut sideways. Chloe thinks Lucifer’s back now, ready to stay and play house with her. If anything, this proves why he needs to be back in hell even more. There’s sure to be some fallout from that later.

“But wait, Maze,” Chloe says before Maze can leave. “I’m going with you. We’ll grab Trixie and Dan and head to the precinct with them.”

“No,” Maze says. She waves a hand at Chloe’s murderous look. “I mean, _no_ , I have a better idea. Fly over to pick up Trixie and bring her back here. Amenadiel and Lucifer stay here with Linda, Trixie, and Charlie. You, me, Dan, and Ella will be tracking demons at the station. When we find more demons, Lucifer and Amenadiel can take turns going to check them out.”

Chloe blinks. “That’s…a really good idea.”

“She’s not Hell’s favorite torturer just for her looks,” Lucifer says. He still sounds pissed about not being with Chloe, but he’s not going to argue with Maze’s solid plan. “We’re going to have to tell Daniel what’s going on.” He looks at Ella. “And are you up for this, Ms. Lopez?”

“Not like I have much choice,” Ella points out. “I guess I can freak out after we…what, save the world?”

“Wonderful,” Lucifer says. Linda makes a little noise like maybe that’s not actually wonderful, but Lucifer ignores her. “I should probably give you a head start to Daniel’s, wouldn’t you agree? I doubt he’ll react well if I just fly in and take the child.”

“You can’t fly,” Chloe points out. “Your wings are all messed up.”

“I’m fine,” he says dismissively.

“Luci,” Amenadiel admonishes. “I’ll go get Trixie.”

Lucifer looks frustrated. “Is this entire fight going to be everyone trying to sideline me?” He snaps. “I’ve done all the hard work for _eons_ in Hell but suddenly I’m the weak link?”

“Lucifer,” Chloe starts.

“Cut the pity party,” Maze snaps. When he gets like this, he doesn’t need soft. “Boohoo over people giving a shit about you on your own time. You’re worthless against Lilith if you’re not at full strength, and pushing yourself just because you want to be the one to get Trixie isn’t going to help us. You’ll see her when Amenadiel brings her back, and you can scare Dan later. Quit being a drama queen.”

He doesn’t even argue. There’s a part of Maze, a part she has to push down, that feels a little guilty. Maybe she _should’ve_ let Chloe be soft with him. This isn’t a normal tantrum; this is him panicking because everything’s spinning out of control and he’s been stuck in Hell alone for what was decades down there. He wants to cling to everyone he’s been missing. She doesn’t know the feeling. She’s never been back after she had people to care about.

But Lucifer nods, and Maze knows her sharp words were the right choice. Even if everyone’s looking at her like she’s the wicked witch.

“Okay,” Chloe says. “Let’s go, Maze. Ella.” She pretty deliberately puts her hands on Lucifer’s face, making him look her in the eye. “I know I can trust you to take care of Trixie,” she murmurs. “You know what that means for me.”

He swallows hard. “Anything.”

They sound like they’re rehashing an old conversation. Chloe goes onto her toes and kisses him. Maze looks away, chest tightening. She wants someone to hold onto before a battle. She thought she found that someone. But she didn’t.

“Wait, when did that happen?” Ella asks, looking at the two of them kissing and whispering to each other. “Just now?”

“Right before he went back to Hell,” Maze tells her. Ella blinks and nods a bunch of times.

“Yep. Okay. Right. That’s where Lucifer was. Hell. Because he’s the devil. He is Satan.” She takes a deep breath. “But…but okay. He’s Lucifer. He’s him. And I know him. And that’s—” She gulps. “Slightly life-changing. Changes everything I thought I knew. I mean, I had to work so hard to get my faith back, you know? And now…” She looks at Maze helplessly.

Maze knows she’s supposed to be more sympathetic to this. Religion matters a lot to the humans it matters to. But it does not matter to Maze, and she has much bigger issues to worry about at the moment. Still, she bites her tongue for a second. She doesn’t always have to snap out that she doesn’t care. Humans really aren’t equipped for this kind of knowledge. At least Ella’s still upright. She’s ready to get to work. It proves she’s stronger than she looks.

“Okay,” Maze says, because honestly, this is a conversation for Linda far more than for Maze. “As long as you’re good to help.”

Ella nods decisively. “Totally.”

“Decker,” Maze says. She’s almost apologetic about it, but they really need to go. They’ve wasted too much time already.

“Mazikeen,” Lucifer says, following them to the door.

“Yeah, I’ll take care of her, whatever,” Maze says.

“No,” Lucifer says. “I mean, yes, that, but—” He shakes his head a little. “I am sorry. I tried to keep Lilith away from here.”

Maze blows out a harsh breath. “Yeah, I know you did.”

“She knows you’re here, Maze,” he says quietly. “Be careful.”

“She…did she say she was coming for me?” Maze asks, emotions swirling through her. She can’t even parse through them. Emotions are hard enough in the best of times.

Lucifer sighs. “She mentioned tracking you. I’m not entirely sure why.”

They look at each other for a second. “Not for anything good,” Maze murmurs.

He meets her eyes. “Yes, well, I don’t think she realized she’ll have to get through me to get to you.”

Maze can’t speak. She clenches her jaw, willing herself not to drown under the feelings welling up. She doesn’t have time for all this sentimentality. Ella makes a little humming sound to Maze’s right, like this is some precious moment. That helps Maze refocus.

“Let’s just focus on getting through her before she can get to either one of us,” she suggests.

“Good idea,” Lucifer agrees, smiling a little. He touches Maze’s shoulder and then Chloe’s face, and then he sighs and retreats back into the house.

“Shut it, Ellen,” Maze says before Ella can make a spectacle. It shuts her down immediately. Though Maze catches her and Chloe both shooting her soft little looks on the drive over to Dan’s. Maze rolls her eyes and ignores them. They don’t seem to understand that Lucifer’s declaration is probably going to get both Lucifer and Maze killed. Caring enough about someone to give your life for them just means you’re willing to die and then leave them open to attack. What good will it do Maze if Lucifer dies trying to protect her? Then she still has to fight for herself, _and_ she’s lost him.

She doesn’t let herself dwell on the warmth that’s been spreading all through her chest since he said it.

They get up to Dan’s apartment to find him frantic. “Chloe, what the hell?” He gasps. “Amenadiel just took Trixie and he…Chloe, I swear to God, he had _wings_.”

“I know,” Chloe assures him. “You’re not crazy, Dan.”

“Or we’re _all_ crazy,” Ella says, eyes wide.

Maze huffs and pulls up her true face, not letting their gasps and screams get to her. “It’s real, okay? I’m a demon, Amenadiel’s an angel, and Lucifer’s the devil. Lilith’s escaped Hell and wants to take over the Earth. She’s going to kill a bunch of humans and bring other demons with her. We need to find her and the demons possessing newly-dead bodies right now.”

“Demons,” Dan says faintly.

“Ella’s already compartmentalized,” Maze says. “So hurry up and let’s go.”

Dan shakes his head like he’s shaking his thoughts around. “Wait, but Trixie…?”

“Amenadiel and Lucifer are staying with her and Linda and Charlie,” Chloe says.

“ _Lucifer_ ,” Dan says. “But he’s—”

“He’s the same guy who already saved her life once,” Chloe says warningly. “He’s not going to let anyone hurt her.”

Dan presses his lips together, unhappy about not being able to protect Trixie himself. Maze wants to keep her close and protect her, too, and same with Charlie. But Dan has to know what Maze knows—Chloe’s right. Lucifer can say he hates kids all he wants, but he lets Trixie do pretty much whatever she wants. Maze doesn’t know if it’s because Trixie is an extension of Chloe or if Lucifer’s as susceptible to Trixie’s love as Maze is. Either way, he’s got her back, and he’s definitely not going to let anything happen to Charlie. Plus Amenadiel’s there. No one is going to hurt either of the kids.

And Maze is going to do her damnedest to kill any demon who would even think about trying.

The precinct is quieter than Maze has ever seen it. The night shift is just uniformed officers, not detectives, and most of them are out on patrol. Maze has never seen most of the officers inside. Their ragtag group of demon fighters gathers around Chloe’s desk while she searches.

“The thing is,” she says with a frown, “it could take people a while to report any deaths.”

“If she’s trying to bring a whole crew of backup with her, it’ll be a lot of bodies,” Maze points out.

“Check the scanner,” Dan suggests. “Even if no one’s reported a specific body, some kind of mass death will attract attention.”

Chloe nods and clicks a few buttons on her computer. They all listen intently to the calls coming in; a domestic disturbance here, a bar fight there. Nothing sounds too promising. Maze’s stomach clenches. Lilith’s going to get the drop on them.

Maze gets up and starts pacing. She can’t sit still. Adrenaline is already pumping through her veins, readying her for a fight that she’s now worried won’t come. They won’t have a fight because Lilith will just destroy them before they can do anything about it.

“Hey,” Chloe says softly. “Maze?”

“We need to _do_ something,” Maze growls. “This isn’t working.”

“This was your idea,” Ella reminds her slowly.

“Well, time to come up with a new idea.”

“I’m still not totally sure what’s going on,” Dan admits. “I mean…demons? Lilith? And she wants to take over the Earth?”

“She’s always hated humans,” Maze repeats herself from earlier.

“Okay, and Lucifer was in Hell?” Ella cuts in to ask.

“He went back after the whole thing at the Mayan to make sure no more demon possessions popped up. He’s their…king,” Chloe explains, looking almost embarrassed.

“Can’t he just let Lilith have Hell?” Ella asks. “I mean, from everything I’ve heard him say, he doesn’t exactly enjoy Hell.”

Chloe looks pained. “It has to be a celestial. An angel.”

“Hell’s never had a ruler besides Lucifer,” Maze cuts in. “God sent him down as a punishment. I guess none of his siblings tried anything after that so no one else ever got punished to take over for him.”

“Uh, yeah,” Ella says. “If my mom sent my brother to _Hell_ for something, I’m not going to do that thing, either.”

“Is ruling Hell really a punishment?” Dan asks, lip curling a little. He’s probably thinking about Lucifer acting like he rules everything else. But Dan’s never seen Hell, and he hasn’t seen much of Lucifer being real, either.

“Yes,” Chloe snaps.

“It is for Lucifer,” Maze amends. “Not for Lilith. Or any demon, really.”

“He was banished, Dan,” Chloe says, softer now. “Rejected and abandoned by his entire family. Blamed for every bad part of humanity for all of history. He hates it there. He hates _himself_.” She’s getting emotional. She shakes her head.

“I don’t think the throne in Hell would make Lilith stop wanting to kill humans on Earth, anyway,” Maze says, resuming her pacing.

“But why?” Ella asks.

“Lilith was supposed to be the mother of humanity,” Maze says, remembering all the rants she sat through. “And then God kicked her out and made Eve instead.” Her heart squeezes painfully at the mention, but she ignores it. “Lilith never got over it. She’s pissed. She hates humans. Made torturing them nice and easy. And she hated all of us because we weren’t the children she wanted.”

“Children—” Dan starts to say, but the scanner explodes into noise. Multiple officers calling in, yelling, the sounds of people screaming in the background.

“Lilith,” Maze says, stomach dropping.

“Let’s go,” Chloe says.

“No!” Maze yells. “We need an immortal.” She’s already calling Amenadiel. He picks up on the first ring and Maze gives him the street name. He pops into the precinct, grabs her around the waist, and hauls her downtown.

There’s a crater in the middle of the street. Amenadiel sighs. “Yeah, that seems about right,” he mutters, scanning the road.

“Angel!” A guy sneers from their left. Maze squints over at him.

“Heptel,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Where’s Lilith?”

“Mazikeen.” Heptel looks scared. He should; he’s always been a sniveling little weakling. Maze has broken half the bones in his body at various points of their existence.

“Lilith?” Maze repeats.

“Why are you with an angel?” Heptel asks. Maze gets impatient and throws her Hell blade into his chest. He crumples.

“Why did you do that?” Amenadiel cries. “He might’ve known something.”

“He didn’t know anything,” Maze says dismissively. “And it doesn’t matter. I can smell her now. Let’s go.”

“Go where?” Amenadiel asks.

“Go get Lucifer first. Then I’ll tell you guys where to go.”

Amenadiel follows her orders without hesitation or further question. They’ve come a long way. They drop into Linda’s house and Linda doesn’t even get her greeting out before Maze says, “East.” They go east. She has no idea how Lucifer knows where Amenadiel is when they’re flying. It’s basically instantaneous flight; it must be some kind of angel GPS.

“Stop,” Maze says. They drop into a deserted parking lot. Maze blinks. “Oh, shit,” she breathes. “Oh, fuck, no.”

“What?” Amenadiel asks.

“Eve,” Maze whispers. “She’s not after all of humanity,” Horror is welling up in her throat. She takes off at a sprint, leaving Lucifer to explain to his brother. She’s pretty sure Lucifer gets what she was talking about.

Maze didn’t follow Eve when Eve left. But she was kind of worried, despite herself. She found out where Eve was. And then she left her to her own devices. Her own devices had her living in kind of a dive. And Maze left her there. Which is now _here_. With the stench of Lilith heavy in the air. Maze curses herself as she takes the stairs two at a time. She should have known. None of Lilith’s rants were ever complete without a few jabs at _Adam’s new wife_.

“Eve!” Maze yells. She doesn’t have to kick in the door, like she was planning to; someone’s beat her to it. Her stomach lurches. There’s blood on the ground. “No!”

“Mazikeen,” Lucifer says from behind her. “That’s not enough blood to kill a human.”

That’s something, at least. Maze’s chest is heaving. She’d barely let herself think about Eve in the last five months. She’d told herself she didn’t care, she was over it, all that kind of stuff. She was wrong. The thought of Lilith taking Eve has her almost out of her mind with panic.

“We have to find her,” Maze says.

“Can you still track Lilith?” Lucifer asks. Too late, Maze realizes Lilith isn’t the only demon she can smell, and then four demons are jumping out from the darkness of Eve’s apartment. Four demons might’ve been a workout for Maze on her own, but it’s nothing for Maze with two angels at her back.

Fighting side-by-side with Lucifer is all but second nature. She knows when to duck for his wings to come forward, where to jab once they retreat. Amenadiel jumps into their dance easily, and for the first time, Maze considers the fact that Lucifer and Amenadiel most likely learned to fight together.

They make short work of the demons—siblings Maze doesn’t even recognize; probably younglings. She feels no guilt over killing them. If it’s her siblings or Eve, Eve wins.

That should probably scare her, but she doesn’t have the time.

“One of you has to go back to the humans,” Maze points out. “And take Decker, Ella, and Dan back with the rest of them.”

Lucifer growls in frustration. “It’ll take at least all of us to fight Lilith, but someone’s got to protect them.”

Amenadiel’s ignoring them both, head bowed. With a flurry of wind, two new angels drop in. “Brother,” the taller one says. “What could possibly have you calling me to—” She stops and blinks at Lucifer. She gives Amenadiel an accusatory look. “You bring me into the same room as _him_?”

“You’re lucky I don’t have time for a disembowelment,” Maze grumbles. She doesn’t like angels anyway, but she especially doesn’t like angels hating on Lucifer an hour and a half after he pledged his life for her.

“Lu!” The other angel says. “Hi. How’s it going?”

“Ray Ray, as much as I’d _love_ to chit chat and catch up, we’re dealing with a bit of a situation,” Lucifer says. “Lilith’s escaped Hell and has Eve.”

“ _Eve_ Eve?” Ray Ray, whatever the hell kind of name that is, asks worriedly. “I mean, we knew she flew the coop and came down, but when you went back to Hell we just thought you took her with you.”

“He didn’t,” Maze says, kind of grumpy about the assumption. “They broke up.”

Lucifer gives her an exasperated look. “Is now the time?”

“Just saying.”

“Father will not be pleased,” the first angel says. “Eve is to be protected.”

“Well, at least there’s something we agree on,” Maze says. “We’ve got other humans who need protecting, too.”

“I don’t care about any other humans,” the angel says.

“Remiel,” Amenadiel says sharply. “My child is with them.”

Remiel presses her lips together. “I told you he’d be safer in the Silver City.”

“Ms. Lopez is there,” Lucifer says to Ray Ray, like that’s significant. Ray Ray’s eyes go all big. “And she knows the truth,” Lucifer adds. “Well, about me and Amenadiel. I haven’t said anything about you. Bit of a rush job on the revelation.”

“Okay,” Ray Ray says. She cringes. “Ugh, awkward convo coming up.”

“Azrael,” Amenadiel says tiredly.

“Yeah, okay.” Ray Ray, or Azrael, or whatever, holds up her hands. “I’ll go protect them all. I’ll call if anything happens. Where am I going?”

“You have Google maps?” Maze asks dryly.

“Azrael is a creep, so she knows where Linda lives,” Lucifer says pointedly. Azrael cringes again. “But it’s okay, because she would never hurt anyone and only wants to make sure Ms. Lopez is safe. She’ll guard them.” He huffs. “The detective’s child is going to love you.”

“Oooh, I get to meet Trixie?” Azrael asks excitedly. “Awesome.”

“Go to the police precinct first,” Lucifer instructs. “The detective is there with Ms. Lopez and the douche. You’ll probably have to take a car back with them.”

“Trixie _and_ a car ride?” Azrael squeals. She leaves immediately. Amenadiel and Lucifer look at Maze. Remiel doesn’t look happy, but she seems to be following Amenadiel’s lead.

Maze takes a deep breath, letting her eyes fall closed. “What is the demon doing?” Remiel asks.

“Tracking Lilith,” Amenadiel supplies. “Maze tracks humans, too. It’s her job and she’s very good at it.”

“She doesn’t just track her own kind?” Remiel asks. “You’re saying she can track anything by smell? Like a—”

“I strongly suggest not finishing that sentence,” Lucifer cuts her off. “I certainly won’t stop Maze from whatever she’ll do to you.” 

They’re glaring daggers at each other. Amenadiel narrows his eyes. “Luci, Remi, you don’t have to like each other, but you _will_ protect each other. _And_ Mazikeen,” he adds to Remiel. “We’re all on the same side.”

“Must feel strange for Samael,” Remiel snips.

Lucifer ignores her. Maze chalks it up to either Chloe’s influence for the past four years or the fact that Lilith kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and he feels guilty. Maybe both.

“I need to go back outside,” Maze says. “The other demons are clouding the trail.”

The four of them head back down the decrepit stairs. Maze really shouldn’t have left Eve here. She could’ve found out who she was in a nicer apartment. One with a doorman and 24-hour security.

“Wait,” Lucifer says, head tilting. “Maze, do you…?”

Maze knows exactly what he’s talking about. She can smell Eve nearby. Not a trail left behind. _Eve_. “Eve?” She calls out. She doesn’t get a reply, but she and Lucifer both walk off in the direction of the smell.

“Is _he_ tracking a human by scent? How is he doing that?” Remiel asks Amenadiel.

“He’s spent a long time on Earth,” Amenadiel says. “And a longer time in Hell.”

Maze doesn’t know what else they discuss, because she finds Eve. There’s a gash in her chest, up high near her collarbone, and she’s unconscious. Maze drops to her knees in front of Eve, hands flitting nervously. Maze doesn’t get nervous, not really, but now she is.

“Eve,” she whispers.

“How did she get away from Lilith?” Lucifer wonders. He pushes her hair aside and reveals a blossoming bruise on her temple.

“We have to get her out of here,” Maze says tightly. “Linda can take care of her.”

“Okay,” Lucifer says. He raises his eyebrows at her. “Do you want me to pick her up, or will you be doing the honors?”

Maze ignores the hint of teasing in his voice. “I’ll do it.”

Eve is practically nothing in Maze’s arms. But the warm weight of her is burning in Maze’s skin. Maze’s breath catches when Eve’s head drops to her shoulder. When she looks up, Lucifer’s gaze is knowing. But he’s not mad at her or jealous or anything like that. He looks happy for her.

Better than Maze was for Linda and Amenadiel.

It’s not the time to feel guilty. They walk back over to Amenadiel and Remiel. “Oh, no,” Amenadiel says, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Is she alright?”

“I don’t know,” Maze says. “She needs Linda.”

“I’ll take her,” Lucifer offers. “You go with Amenadiel.”

“Luci, you can’t,” Amenadiel chides. “Your wings.”

The broken one isn’t fully broken anymore, back to hanging straight but definitely not totally healed yet. And the feathers are growing back, but they aren’t as full as normal. It’s enough to get him airborne and through a fight, but not enough to take a passenger.

“Not like _she_ can be trusted,” Lucifer says, sending a hard look at his sister. “With either one of them.”

Amenadiel looks at Remiel. “Remi wouldn’t do anything.”

“Really?” Lucifer says. “Wouldn’t take Eve back upstairs?”

Remiel shrugs unrepentantly. “It’s where she belongs.”

“And what she wants doesn’t matter,” Lucifer says bitterly.

“Remi, what about our talk about free will?” Amenadiel asks.

“Free will wasn’t meant for us,” Remiel says. “And it’s not for me to go against Father. Eve is safe. If you won’t let me take her back to the Silver City, then there’s no reason for me to remain here.”

“What about Lilith?” Amenadiel asks.

Remiel shakes her head. “Human matters aren’t for me to interfere with.” She looks at Amenadiel sadly. “You chose your side, brother. And it wasn’t with me.”

“Remi,” Amenadiel says, shocked. “There doesn’t have to be _sides_.”

“There have been for centuries,” Remiel says, glancing at Lucifer pointedly. She looks back to Amenadiel. “I’m sorry, brother. This isn’t what I wanted for you.”

Then she’s gone. Lucifer claps a hand on Amenadiel’s shoulder and doesn’t comment. Hell must’ve taught him some restraint this time around. He turns to Maze and says, “How should we do this, then?”

Amenadiel takes Eve, since she’s completely dead weight at this point. Maze’s stomach rolls at the terminology. Eve isn’t dead. Maze can hear her breathing. Maze does her best to hold her body taught and take some of the weight from Lucifer, but when they’re flying there isn’t much she can do. He stumbles when he lands in Linda’s living room and Maze jumps away from him right away.

“I’m alright,” he says, pretty much to the room at large. Everyone’s staring at him worriedly. Trixie sprints over and throws her arms around him.

“Lucifer, you shouldn’t be flying with a broken wing!”

He purses his lips and looks down at her. “Well, child, I don’t have much choice,” he points out. “I’ve got to keep you lot safe.”

“I can help,” Trixie says. “Maze taught me tons of knife stuff.”

“Maze,” Dan grumbles under his breath.

“Would you rather she be defenseless?” Maze asks.

“What happened to Eve?” Trixie asks worriedly, looking over at where Linda is pulling out a First Aid kit.

“We don’t know yet,” Maze says. “She hasn’t woken up.”

“I brushed up on human anatomy and First Aid,” Linda says. “Since I’m apparently an all-around kind of doctor now.”

“Remiel left, huh?” Azrael asks. She and Ella are sitting together on the floor, away from everyone else. Ella looks a bit less shell-shocked. They must’ve talked things over.

“She did,” Amenadiel says. He doesn’t add anything else, but Azrael and Lucifer share a look behind his back.

Maze drops to her knees on Eve’s other side. “Can you fix her?” She asks Linda.

Linda lets out an exasperated huff. “I don’t know, Maze. It looks like she got stabbed. It’s not super deep, but it looks really wide. I haven’t done stitches since med school.”

Maze brushes Eve’s hair off her forehead. She cut her hair at some point in the last five months. It’s barely past her shoulders now. Maze wonders if that was part of her work in finding herself. She doesn’t really see what a haircut would do, but humans are weird that way.

Eve’s eyes flutter open and Maze snatches her hand back, embarrassed at almost being caught. “Maze?” Eve murmurs.

“Who stabbed you?” Maze asks. Almost against her will, her hand settles on top of Eve’s. Eve blinks up at her and smiles.

“Hi,” she says. She sounds dazed.

“I think she might have a concussion,” Linda says.

“Hey, Luc,” Eve says, noticing Lucifer and Chloe talking with their heads together. “Um, hi, Chloe.”

“Hi, Eve,” Chloe says, not quite flatly but far from warm.

“Hi, Eve!” Trixie says, much more enthusiastically.

“Oh, hi, Trixie.”

“Did you get stabbed by Maze’s mom?” Trixie asks.

Eve gasps. “Lilith!” She says, like she’s just remembering. “Lilith came and—and grabbed me.”

“How’d you get away?” Maze asks.

“A cat jumped out of a bush,” Eve says, eyes half-closed as she struggles to remember. “And it scared Lilith.”

“She doesn’t know Earth,” Maze reminds them all. “She never left the Garden.”

“The Garden…of _Eden_?” Ella asks, voice high with panic.

“Ms. Lopez,” Lucifer says, pained. “I know this is a lot to take in, but many of us are dealing with head injuries and that pitch—”

“You said your head was fine,” Chloe cuts in accusatorily.

“It’s fine…enough,” Lucifer tries to evade.

“I don’t think you should be flying with a concussion! What if you get disoriented and you can’t—”

“Can’t what?” Lucifer asks, amused now. “Avoid other angels in the air?”

“You could hit a bridge,” Amenadiel says, eyes cutting to the side. “So I’ve heard.”

“Hello?” Dan says from the doorway of the kitchen. “Um…are there still demons trying to take over the Earth or what?”

Everyone shuts up. “Well done ruining the mood, Daniel,” Lucifer sniffs.

“Eve, do you know where Lilith went after she dropped you?” Amenadiel asks.

“No, I don’t know,” Eve says. “I’m sorry. There was another demon with her and he stabbed me and then…and then I don’t remember much.”

“That’s probably when you hit your head,” Linda says. Ella comes over and peers down at the wound in Eve’s chest. She whistles.

“Some kind of heavy-duty blade,” she notes. “The edge is weird. Serrated on one side but not the other?”

Lucifer looks at Maze. Maze nods. “It’s mine. One of my Hell blades. Lilith stole it from me.”

“Your mom stole from you?” Trixie asks. “Couldn’t she get her own knife?”

“Mazikeen gained a reputation for forging her own blades,” Lucifer says. “Everyone wanted hers.”

“She could’ve _asked_ ,” Trixie says disapprovingly.

“We have to go find her,” Maze says. She’s reluctant to leave Eve’s side. But there’s nothing Maze can do for her here. It would be a lot more helpful for Maze to go find Lilith and take her out of the equation so Eve and everyone else can stop worrying about her.

“You’re leaving?” Eve asks. That doesn’t make it any easier to leave.

“She’s probably out there making more demons,” Maze points out. “Soon she’ll have an army.”

“Oh, shit,” Dan says under his breath. “Okay. Demon army. Yep. Alright.”

Trixie looks at Chloe. “Daddy’s losing it.”

“Daddy had the freaking shock of his life!” Dan says defensively. “How is no one else freaking out right now?”

“Everybody else already knew,” Maze says. “Except Ellen.”

“And I already knew Ray Ray,” Ella reveals.

“Wait, you did?” Amenadiel asks. “How?”

“We can fill you in later,” Lucifer interrupts. “But Maze is right. We’ve got to track Lilith.”

“I should’ve known she’d go after—” Maze stops. She loses her breath completely. “Oh, no.”

“What?” Linda asks, looking up from where she’s cleaning out Eve’s wound. “Maze?”

“We brought her right to them,” Maze says. And then they hear the sound of thudding against the door.

Someone’s trying to kick it in.

Maze isn’t sure who, but someone had the idea to blockade the door. They covered the hole Lucifer made in the wall, too. But a filing cabinet in front of the door and drywall backed by two bookshelves isn’t going to keep demons out for long.

“Is that…?” Linda’s face is completely white with shock. “Amenadiel, Charlie!”

Amenadiel’s already gone, not bothering with running up the stairs. He comes back with the baby, still asleep in his arms.

“What do we do?” Dan asks. His eyes are wide with fear, but he’s already put himself between the door and Trixie.

“I should leave,” Chloe says. “I have to leave. Lucifer can’t get hurt if I leave.”

“Not entirely true,” Lucifer says. “And you’re definitely not safe to leave _now_. They’ll follow you.”

“Good,” Chloe says. “Draw some of them away.”

“Absolutely not,” Lucifer snaps. “You can’t—”

“I killed one before.”

“ _One_ ,” Lucifer says. “They don’t feel pain. _You do_.”

“And so do you, with me here!” Chloe points out.

“Decker,” Maze cuts in. “Lucifer’s right. It’s too late to split up now. How could I be so stupid?”

She knows how. She was too worried about Eve, too focused on her feelings. These ridiculous human feelings. If she hadn’t let herself get soft here on Earth, she would’ve known Lilith would circle back around like that. Maze can track anyone on Earth. So can Lilith.

“It’s not your fault, Maze,” Linda says.

“Yes it is,” Maze snaps back. “I know her better than anyone else here. I should’ve known.”

“Arguing and guilt won’t help us now,” Amenadiel points out. “We need a plan.”

The door splinters. There’s only a filing cabinet between them and the demons. Maze shakes her head and blows out a breath. “Okay.” She pulls a Hell blade from her ankle. She nods at Lucifer to get his out, too. The blade she keeps at the small of her back goes to Amenadiel. She pulls the blade from the outside of her thigh and squints at Azrael.

“You know how to use this?”

“Oh, she does,” Lucifer says.

“Had my own pretty special blade until someone _stole_ it,” Azrael says, giving Lucifer a look.

The filing cabinet slides back enough for a demon to slip through. Maze throws the blade she’s holding and hits him directly in the forehead. She didn’t even have time to figure out which sibling it was. She pulls another blade from inside her bra.

“Move her,” Maze says, looking down at Eve. “Charlie and Trixie with her. Linda, you’re going to have to stay with them. Try to keep Charlie quiet. Ellen, can you fight?”

“I took a kickboxing class once,” Ella says. “And I fought with my brothers a lot as kids.”

“You go with them,” Maze says. “Dan, guard them.” She pulls another blade from under the coffee table and hands it to him.

“How many of those do you have?” Azrael asks.

“You have no idea,” Linda mutters. Maze pulls up the couch cushions and grabs the last four blades. She hands one to Chloe and then one to Trixie.

“No,” Dan says.

“I can fight, Daddy,” Trixie says.

“It’s for defense,” Maze tells her. “You stay with your dad. Don’t come out and try to fight, no matter what you hear. But if something happens, I need you to keep yourself and the others safe. But some of the tricks I taught you won’t work on them. The Achilles won’t stop them. Go for the head.”

“She’s just a kid,” Chloe protests.

“It’s okay, Mommy,” Trixie says. “Maze taught me how.”

“I’ll die before it comes to that,” Maze says. She’s not even saying it to reassure Chloe, necessarily. It’s the truth. If anyone wants to hurt Trixie, they’ll have to go through her. The real problem is that’s an actual possibility.

The bookshelves topple. The wall’s open now. “Daniel, take her and go!” Lucifer shouts. Dan didn’t even need the instruction; he’s got Trixie around the waist and yanks Ella by the arm. They retreat to the kitchen, and a second later, Maze hears the table thud. Good. Dan knows how to make cover. Linda helps Eve follow them. Maze doesn’t let her eyes linger. Now’s not the time to worry or lose focus.

“Head or direct to the heart,” Lucifer instructs Chloe. “That’s the fastest way.”

There’s not much else to say as the demons surge into the house. They can only come in two at a time, at first, but Maze can see more hands behind them ripping away at the rest of the wall. Once they widen that hole, or once they get the door open, too, there’s no telling how many will come through at once. More than a few angels, a demon, and a human can fight off, most likely.

Maze lets her world dwindle only to her movements. Slash, step backward to avoid Lucifer’s wing, pull Chloe sideways to avoid a thrown blade. Pick up the blade and throw it back. The floor is slick with blood and time means nothing.

But the wall breaks. And the door breaks. And then there are demons everywhere, demons streaming into the house, demons overwhelming them. Chloe, for all her focus and determination, is still human, and the sight of someone fighting even with a knife sticking out of their chest has her pale and breathing hard too soon.

“How many bloody demons,” Lucifer pants. They can’t hold back the tide. There are too many, and one or more of them is going to get around them, get through to the kitchen. Get to Eve, get to Linda, get to Trixie. Dan will go down protecting them. Trixie will watch her father die for her. Ella will probably go next; she’ll throw herself in front of Linda and the baby and Trixie and Eve. Linda might try to run. She’ll try to get Charlie and Trixie out and away. The angel baby who doesn’t have wings yet, the one the demons would love to tear apart, and Trixie who will refuse to leave. Eve is already wounded, but Maze knows she won’t go down without a fight. She’ll try to protect Trixie and Charlie. Eve was a mother, a very long time ago, and she is wholeheartedly _good_ anyway. She’ll put her body between the demons and the innocent children. But she’ll die. And then the tiny humans Maze has dedicated her life to will die.

They’ll die. They’ll all die.

Maze is panting so hard her vision is going black around the edges. This is a _battle_. She has to focus. She slows her breathing, wills her heart to return to normal. She doesn’t normally have to worry about breathing and heartbeats. She never loses focus like this normally.

Lucifer’s suit shreds as he grows, explodes into his full devil form. His voice shakes the house. “Why am I repeating myself?” He booms out. Maze hears someone in the kitchen scream; probably Ella, or maybe Trixie.

But it works. Most demons are cowards in the face of Lucifer’s wrath. Lucifer’s given them good reason to be over the centuries he’s ruled. Bodies drop, nothing more than corpses again, as the demons inside flee back to Hell.

There’s a break in the stream of demons. Maze blinks blood out of her eyes, no idea if it’s her own or someone else’s. Chloe’s drenched in sweat, probably at least partially because Lucifer’s radiating hellfire and Chloe’s a human standing inches away.

“Is it over?” Chloe asks shakily.

But then Lilith comes through the door. The body she’s wearing is a tall woman, at least as tall as Lucifer’s normal height. And she’s broad, thickly muscled. Probably some kind of body builder before someone killed her. She still has a horde of demons with her. Ferez and Soleen are on her right, and Maze doesn’t recognize the other four. Younger demons, she guesses, which might mean they aren’t as good in a fight but they’re probably even more loyal.

“Mazikeen,” Ferez sneers. “You’re fighting beside angels?” Maze doesn’t answer. She throws a blade, but Ferez moves and it only hits him in the shoulder. That won’t kill him. “You’ve slowed down,” he mocks. “Getting rusty?”

Maze snarls and steps forward. “Hand-to-hand?” She challenges.

“Maze,” Amenadiel warns.

“Mazikeen,” Lilith says. Maze shudders against her will. “How could you leave your family behind?”

“Some family,” Maze spits. She can’t even count the scars that litter her body because of her so-called family. They practiced torture on each other. Betrayal, shifting alliances, and backstabbing were all guaranteed events.

“You think these angels, these humans, care about you?” Lilith asks silkily. “At best, you’re their pet.”

Maze rolls her eyes. “You’re about two years too late for that to work.”

“No one else has to die,” Lilith says. “Just give me Eve.”

Maze spits blood. “Not happening.”

“I don’t want to hurt you. You’re my daughter.” Lilith takes a step forward. “Mazikeen. I made you. I trained you. You would fight against me? You were always my favorite, you know.”

Maze swallows hard. She licks her lips. It’s not that Lilith is getting to her. She’s _not_. Maze is just confused. She’s tired. They’ve been fighting all day. Maze isn’t _faltering_. She’s just breathing.

Chloe steps up beside her. “You’re not her family,” she says, trying to sound bold despite the waver in her voice. “We are.”

“Oh, Mazikeen,” Lilith says judgmentally. “Can’t you see how the humans have ruined you? How long would it have taken you to wipe us all out before? You’ve grown weak.”

She’s right. Maze is weaker now. Look at how she lost focus during this fight.

“Enough,” Lucifer growls, and it snaps Maze out of whatever daydream Lilith had her in. “Lilith, this is over. I’m taking you back to Hell.”

“And you’re going to bind me there?” Lilith asks with a laugh. “Your _father_ couldn’t hold me. How could you?”

Azrael makes a little noise and looks heavenward. “A little help?” Nothing happens, not that Maze thought it would. Lucifer spent a lot of time screaming at God when he first landed in Hell. Never did him any good.

Lucifer bares his teeth. “My father never spent time in Hell, did He? _I_ am the ruler. And you will obey.”

Maze sees goosebumps break out along Chloe’s arm. She spares a second to wonder if it’s fear or arousal. Decker definitely seems like a hidden freak. The ones who act like they aren’t usually are.

“Well, then,” Lilith sighs. “It seems we’ll have to fight.”

Ferez is a good fighter. Almost as good as Maze. And Soleen has brute strength on her side, even in a rented body. The other demons are young, but there’s enough of them to keep their side busy. That’s all Lilith needed. Maze sweeps Soleen’s legs out from under her before she can tackle Azrael and then there’s a blade at her throat. Lilith using Maze’s distractions against her.

“Your choice, Mazikeen,” she says darkly. “Eve or your own beheading.”

Maze spits in her face. “Do it.”

“No!” Eve yells. Maze can hear her walking out of the kitchen. “Maze, no. Let them take me. I…I lived a whole life already. I took more than I deserved.”

“Something we can agree on,” Lilith says.

“Eve, go back,” Maze says, teeth gritted.

“I’m not letting you die for me,” Eve chokes out. “I shouldn't have let it go this far. You've been hurt, Maze, and it's my fault.”

“None of us are dying today,” Lucifer says. He grabs Lilith by the hair and presses his blade to _her_ throat. “And now look at us. Not my favorite kind of train to make with bodies, for sure, but I will enjoy killing you.”

“Do you think you can kill me before I kill your pet?” Lilith asks.

“Quite sure,” Lucifer says, and then his wing shoves Maze’s legs out from under her. Maze rolls away, but this isn’t Lilith’s first fight with an angel. It’s not even her first fight with Lucifer _this week_. She knows his other wing is still weak and she wrenches it awkwardly, hard enough to make Lucifer cry out as a sick _crack_ rings out. She gets away from his blade and Soleen and Ferez each throw one of their own.

Time slows down. Not literally—Amenadiel can’t do that anymore. But Maze sees the blades heading directly for Lucifer. Lucifer, who is mortal with Chloe in the room. Maze pounces. She’s not thinking of the vow she made centuries ago or fealty to her king. She’s not acting as a demon protecting the devil.

All she’s thinking of is protecting the first being in her existence she ever cared about, protecting someone she loves. She scoffed at Lucifer's vow before, but she's protecting him now, and she's ready to die for him, for Eve, for Trixie. For Linda and Charlie. For Chloe and Amenadiel and Ella and Dan, even for that random angel with the atrocious haircut. If nothing else, Lucifer has a better chance of protecting everyone than Maze does. One blade glances off her head and the other blows through her stomach. Not enough to kill her immediately, but she’ll surely bleed out within the next half hour. She’s pretty sure Soleen partially scalped her.

Lucifer roars with rage. The ceiling fan drops in the commotion and crushes Ferez as an added bonus. Maze is on the ground, blind with pain, and Eve drops to her knees beside her.

“Maze!” Chloe cries.

As if things could get worse, Maze hears Dan yell, “Trixie, no!”

“Maze!” Trixie calls out. Maze can’t see her, but she can gather what’s happened. Trixie’s gotten around Dan, left the safety of the kitchen, and thinks she’s going to come help Maze. Maze grunts as she tries to get her legs under her. There’s no way she’s staying down with Trixie in the room. She can feel blood streaming down her face. Trixie screams at the sight of her, so she must look truly horrific.

“What’s this?” Lilith asks delightedly, eyes fixed on Trixie. “A _child_. How fun. I've gotten to play with so few human children.” But then Lucifer’s attacking her, his rebroken wing hanging oddly. He throws her into the filing cabinet haphazardly tipped over on the ground. He grabs her by the throat and lifts her in the air. Azrael takes out Soleen. Good for her, although Maze would’ve liked to do the honors. Maze can’t, though. The world is exploding into white light. She’s dying. She must be.

Except everyone else seems to be seeing the light, too. Maze can’t see anything, and everything sounds like she’s underwater, but she can tell everyone else is reacting to the light. Suddenly she’s shaded. The eye not blinded with blood notices steel-gray feathers. Amenadiel’s blocking the light from her. Trixie crouches down beside Maze, crying. She takes off her jacket and presses it to Maze’s head.

Maze tries to tell her she’s okay, or at least that the wound in her stomach is worse than the one in her head, but her mouth can’t make any sounds. Blood is filling her throat, choking her.

“Mum?” Maze hears Lucifer say. Oh, that’s what the light is. Great.

Maze tries to focus, to take in the scene around her. Lilith is pinned against the wall by the light. Lucifer’s dropped back, looking human again except for his wings that he’s thrown out like Amenadiel to shield the humans from the divine light. Azrael follows suit when she looks around and notices Linda, Dan, and Ella came out of the kitchen at some point. Lucifer pushes Chloe fully behind him. He looks unsure.

“Wait, _Mom_?” Azrael asks. “What—”

“Mom, what are you doing here?” Amenadiel asks.

“ _How_ are you here?” Lucifer adds.

If the light is talking, Maze can’t hear it. Judging from Chloe’s confused look, the humans can’t, either. But Amenadiel, Lucifer, and Azrael can. They all look stricken.

“Really?” Azrael asks. “My blade isn’t a party favor, guys.”

“Are you sure?” Amenadiel asks.

“No,” Lucifer says. “No, Mum.”

Maze knows the Goddess. She’s sure She isn’t listening. She certainly doesn’t take orders from Her own son. The light moves toward Maze, Trixie, and Eve.

“No, Mum!” Lucifer shouts. “Stop!”

“It’ll kill her!” Linda screams. Maze doesn’t know which _her_ Linda means, but she tries to push at Trixie, to get her away. Her other arm isn’t working, so she can’t push Eve. Lucifer’s still using his wings to shield Chloe and Dan, so he can’t turn around, but he pushes back with the broken wing to push Trixie closer to himself so he can reach out with an arm and pull her away.

“Stop!” Trixie screams. “Lucifer, no! I’m staying with Maze!”

“Eve, move!” Lucifer commands. “She isn’t going to hurt her.”

Maze feels pretty skeptical about that, but she can’t voice it. Eve blinks furiously, eyes swimming with tears. “Do you promise?”

“I don’t lie,” Lucifer reminds her.

He can be wrong, not that he’d admit that. But Eve believes him. She moves away, and then the light touches Maze. Linda cries out, terrified. She has Charlie clutched in her arms, trying to protect him even though he’s mostly likely safe.

Maze feels…warmth. Not just in her body. She feels _feelings_ of warmth. Forgiveness and apology for all the things Maze and the Goddess did to each other. Most of all, she feels gratitude. The Goddess is thanking her for saving Lucifer. Like Maze needs thanks for that.

And then Maze can feel the Goddess healing her. She must’ve picked up some new skills in her own little universe. The light retreats and Eve comes back, pressing her hands to Maze’s head and then her stomach. “It’s gone,” Eve whispers. “The whole thing’s gone. Maze.” She looks down at Maze, crying hard, and leans down to press their lips together. Eve looks up, aimlessly searching the room. “Thank you,” she whispers, and Maze knows she’s talking to the Goddess.

The light moves toward Lucifer. Maze doesn’t know how she knows, but she sees the Goddess kissing his brow. Then Amenadiel, and finally Azrael. She’s embracing Her children.

“But Mom, wait,” Azrael says tearfully. “Don’t go.”

“Mum, _no_ ,” Lucifer insists. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Mom,” Amenadiel pleads.

Then the light is gone. Lilith is gone. The last few demons are gone, leaving the bodies on the floor like someone discarding last night’s pants.

“What happened?” Chloe asks, clutching at Lucifer’s hips. “Lucifer?”

“She…” His voice cracks. “She took them back to Hell. And she’s going to…she’s going to take the throne there.”

_So I don’t have to_ , he doesn’t say. His chest is heaving with emotion. “Wait,” Chloe says. She shakes her head. “So you’re—you can stay. For good.”

Lucifer’s throat works as he swallows. “I can.” Chloe lets out a strangled little laugh. Lucifer turns to look at Maze. “Mazikeen,” he says softly. She’s sitting up now, Eve’s arm behind her back to support her. She might not be dying anymore, but she still feels kind of woozy.

“Don’t get all human on me,” Maze manages to joke breathily. “Just did it so you’d owe me.”

Lucifer laughs, but she can see tears in his eyes. Maybe it’s just from his wing getting broken again. “Okay, then,” he says. “I’ll be waiting for you to cash in that favor.”

“Are you really okay, Maze?” Trixie asks worriedly. “I didn’t know how to save you.”

“You didn’t listen to me,” Maze scolds. She’s pretty sure it’s not a very strong scolding, judging by how weak she feels. “I said stay safe.”

“But Maze,” Trixie says, frowning. “I couldn’t just sit back and let you _die_. I love you.”

Maze can’t speak for a few seconds. She manages to nod. “Thanks, little human,” she grits out. “You know I love you, too.”

Charlie’s been screaming for a while now, though Maze has to cut him slack. It’s certainly understandable. It’s not helping her lingering headache any. But he’s reaching for her, so she doesn’t feel too mad about it.

“I’m taking him upstairs,” Linda says. She leans down and presses her face against the top of Maze's head. “Oh, Maze.” She’s got tear stains all over her cheeks, and Maze doesn’t have to ask to know those tears were for her. Ella, Dan, Chloe, Amenadiel—everyone is looking at her, concerned for her. Maze thinks of Lilith’s harsh words, that Maze is their pet, that the demons are her true family. She’d shake her head if it wouldn’t hurt.

This is her family. These people _love_ her. Maze has never felt that. She’s not sure she’s fully understood how much they all care until just now, either. But she can see it on their faces. Their relief at seeing her upright, alive, healed.

Maze isn’t sure if that makes her weak or strong. She lost her focus in battle, but they won in the end. Linda’s convinced Maze’s love makes her stronger. Maze isn't sure if being willing to die for someone else is strength or weakness. All Maze knows right now is everyone’s love for her is making her feel stronger _right now_ , after she almost died. Maybe that’s all she needs to know for now.

Maze can’t meet anyone’s eye, but she makes herself say, out loud, “I would fight for any of you.”

And because they’re her family, they all know what she means.

Dan and Chloe manage to get Trixie to back off and give Maze some space. Maze is pretty sure Trixie was clinging to her at least halfway to avoid the inevitable reaming she’s going to get for running into danger. Lucifer’s hanging awkwardly at Chloe’s side, not wanting to leave her but unsure of his role there. Amenadiel follows Linda up the stairs with Charlie, and Ella and Azrael are deep in conversation.

Eve is still at Maze’s side, her arm steady and sure around Maze. Maze looks over at her. Eve smiles, even though she stills looks tearful. “Hi, Maze,” Eve murmurs.

“Um, hi,” Maze says, suddenly feeling shy. “Are you okay?” She touches her own chest where Eve was stabbed.

“Maze, this is nothing compared to what happened to you,” Eve says. “I mean, it was bleeding, but Linda says with rest and food and water, I’ll make new blood. It wasn’t very deep. I’m fine. You…” Her lower lip trembles. “You were dying, Maze.”

“Yeah,” Maze says. She feels a bit numb and she wonders if emotions are going to kick her in the ass later. They seem to do that a lot. “But it would’ve been worth it.”

“You fight so hard for the people you love,” Eve says tremulously. “And it’s something I…” She takes a deep breath. “It’s something I love about you.”

“You do?” Maze asks.

Eve slumps against her. “ _Maze_. Yes.”

“So you’re—did you figure out who you are?” Maze really doesn’t want to reach out again and get rejected. Once was absolutely enough.

Eve smiles a little sadly. “Not totally, I don’t think.”

“Right,” Maze says. Disappointment clogs her throat for a second.

Eve shakes her head. “But I’ve figured out a lot,” she says softly. “And I thought maybe…maybe we could help each other with the rest.”

It takes a second for Maze to catch her meaning. Maze sucks in a breath and looks directly at her. “Do you mean…?” She’s still wary, wondering if this is some kind of trick. Eve isn’t one for tricks, mostly, besides the whole Father Kinley and letting demons loose on Earth thing.

“If you’ll have me,” Eve says, sounding kind of nervous now. “I’d like to be with you, Maze.” She looks unsure, but she doesn’t waver.

Maze doesn’t know a lot about feelings. She can’t name all the feelings that exist, and she’s pretty sure she doesn’t feel all of them. But right now, she knows what she’s feeling. She’s absolutely _giddy_. A laugh bubbles its way out of her throat and surprises them both.

“You want me?” Maze can’t help but ask.

Eve presses her forehead to Maze’s, ignoring all the blood caked there. She tucks a lock of hair behind Maze’s ear and kisses her, so softly Maze’s chest feels tight. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I left,” Eve confides. “And I can honestly say I’ve never wanted anyone more.”

“Oh,” is all Maze can say. Like she told Linda after the whole thing with Pierce, actions are easy for her. So she takes action. She puts her hand on Eve’s face. Eve doesn’t care that there is blood on Maze’s hand, filling in the lines of her palm and seeping under her nails. Eve doesn’t care that Maze uses those hands to kill, to maim, to eviscerate. She’s not afraid of Maze and she’s not disgusted by Maze. So Maze leans in and kisses Eve, winds her arms around Eve as tightly as she can.

She let go of Eve once. It was Eve’s choice, and Maze wouldn’t hold her there when Eve didn’t want it. But Eve came back. Eve’s here now. Eve _wants her_. So this time, Maze is hanging on. She’s not letting go. Eve giggles against her lips, and Maze can tell Eve isn’t letting go this time, either.

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://biblionerd07.tumblr.com)


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